DOJ charges New Jersey congresswoman with assault over immigration facility tussle

 

The Justice Department has charged Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers outside an immigration detention facility last week. The charges were announced on social media by the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, who previously served as a personal attorney for President Trump. According to court papers filed on Tuesday, McIver faces two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and a Homeland Security Investigations special agent during a confrontation outside the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark. Sponsor Message Caleb Vitello, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during operations in New York City last month. National ICE will reopen a major detention center in New Jersey as it eyes a broader expansion Democrats have denounced the charges as politically motivated and an effort by the Trump administration and the Justice Department to intimidate members of Congress and chill oversight. Habba said she tried to address the matter with McIver and resolve it without bringing charges, but that the congresswoman declined. "No one is above the law — politicians or otherwise," Habba said. "It is the job of this office to uphold justice impartially, regardless of who you are. Now we will let the justice system work." McIver denounced the charges against her, calling the case "purely political." "They mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight," she said in a statement. "I look forward to the truth being laid out clearly in court." William Rogers worked as a correctional officer at CoreCivic from 2016 to 2020. He's a vocal critic of the plan to reopen the facility as an immigrant detention center. National Cities aiming to thwart immigrant detention centers wield a secret weapon: local laws Delaney Hall is the first new detention center to reopen during Trump's second term, after closing in 2017, as the Trump administration seeks more detention space for arrested migrants. Several local officials protested its official reopening earlier this month. McIver said she and her colleagues were at the facility to conduct lawful oversight of the treatment of detainees there. The visit should have been short and peaceful, she said, but instead turned into an unnecessary confrontation when ICE agents chose to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Sponsor Message